Instagram Coming to BlackBerry 10?

There’s been some conflicting news about the state of popular photography app Instagram coming to Research in Motion’s BlackBerry 10 OS when that operating system debuts in 2013. In an earlier report, Venture Beat had stated that its sources have confirmed that Instagram would not be making an appearance on BlackBerry 10, but Crackberry is refuting Venture Beat‘s claims and says that Instagram’s parent Facebook will in fact be delivering the photo app to BlackBerry 10, though no timeline was given.

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Venture Beatreported: “Facebook may be a building a native version of the social network for the new mobile operating system, but the company has zero plans to build or release an Instagram application for BlackBerry 10, a person familiar with the matter told VentureBeat.” Instead, RIM may be forced to build in various filter effects inside the camera app to give users a similar experience to Instagram.

However, citing not only its own sources, but the fact that Facebook is a key partner and a has shown RIM support by delivering a keynote at BlackBerry Jam North America, Crackberry is reporting that Instagram will in fact be coming.

Refuting the Venture Beat story, Crackberryreported: “No offense to VentureBeat, but whatever sources they have that are familiar with the matter, I have better sources that are even more familiar with this matter. I checked in with my contacts that all but gave formal confirmation that RIM continues to have a strong relationship with Facebook, who now owns Instagram, and that you will see Instagram come to BlackBerry 10.”

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That said, Facebook has been a strong partner of Microsoft as well and we haven’t seen Instagram yet for Windows Phone; the app is only available on iOS and Android at this time. Instead, Windows Phone manufacturers have to layer in their own filters and effects on top of Windows Phone’s camera app, or bundle their own photo editors, to replicate the Instagram experience. It’s been rumored that Instagram will be coming to Windows Phone, but thus far we haven’t heard more from those rumors.

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With BlackBerry 10 being a new OS, RIM will need to court both big name developers as well as independent third-party developers to bring compelling titles to its app store to rival digital storefronts for Apple’s iOS platform, Google’s Android OS, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. RIM, which had once dominated corporate smartphone sales is struggling in the space as more modern OSes have taken over the space, attracting developers to create robust apps that extend the phone into a mobile computer adapted to different needs and usage cases with the right apps.